On Wed 14 Jan 2009 06:35:33a, George Shirley told us...

> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>> On Tue 13 Jan 2009 10:16:20p, MaryL told us...
>>
>>> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> "Chemiker" > wrote in message
>>>> ...
>>>>> Well, back to the drawing board. Found 2 cast iron
>>>>> corn bread stick molds in the garage, refugees
>>>>> from my wife's Daddy's storage shed when he
>>>>> died some years ago.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cleaned them up, and reseasoned. They looked
>>>>> pretty good, but the proof was in the making of
>>>>> cornbread.
>>>>>
>>>>> Went to local market and bought a couple of packets
>>>>> of yellow CB mix, and made one with whole milk.
>>>>>
>>>> Your problem was buying cornbread "mix".
>>>>
>>>> Use butter to grease the molds and then make cornbread from scratch,
>>>> not a boxed mix.
>>>>
>>>> Jill
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Yes, what Jill said. My grandmother used the type of molds you
>>> describe, and she used lots of butter on the pans--and she was baking
>>> in days before mixes were available, which was probably "a good thing"
>>> in that case. Hers came out perfectly every time.
>>>
>>> MaryL
>>>
>>>
>>
>> It's also very important to preheat the mold to sizzling hot before
>> pouring in the batter. Actually, Crisco or bacon fat works better
>> without burning. The temperature should be quite high.
>>
> What Wayne said. I always preheat my cast iron in the oven at the
> temperature the cornbread is going to be cooked at. I put a little
> canola oil in the bottom of the pan, swirl it around, and then start
> heating from cold.
>
> In the meantime I am mixing my cornbread up and getting it ready. Once
> the oven dings that is ready I pull the pan out, pour in the cornbread
> mixture, stick it back in the oven for the time period necessary to cook
> through, as proven by a toothpick stuck into the highest point on the
> cornbread. If the toothpick comes out clean you're ready to eat.
>
> Learned that from my Mom, who learned to cook in on a wood and/or coal
> stove and she learned it from her Mom who learned to cook in a fireplace
> in the backwoods of nineteenth century Arkansas.
>
> Using this method has always turned out perfect cornbread for me, moist,
> done through and through, and with that fine crust on the bottom.
>

Yeppers! Similar background, too, except in Mississippi.

--
Wayne Boatwright
(correct the spelling of "geemail" to reply)
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Date: Wednesday, 01(I)/14(XIV)/09(MMIX)
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Countdown till Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
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